Witness: Bronfmans tried to apply political pressure

NXIVM wanted prosecutors to clamp down on its enemies

NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and Allison Mack appear in a group of videos titled "Keith Raniere Conversations," that were published on YouTube on April 9, 2017. (Keith Raniere Conversations/YouTube)

Keith Raniere Conversations/YouTube2of10Sarah Edmondson shows the brand she received as part of a secret sorority ritual while part of the self-help group Nxivm, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 27, 2017. Edmondson, who has left the group, and other former followers of Keith Raniere, the leader of the group, said they were focusing on recovering. ?“There is no playbook for leaving a cult,?” Edmondson said. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT175RUTH FREMSON3of10

Nancy Salzman, NXIVM's president, during an interview Silver Bay Center on Lake George, for Vanguard week, on August 27, 2003. Her guilty plea marked the unraveling of Raniere's inner circle and the breakup of a close relationship she and Raniere had since they met in the mid-1990s. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

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Mark Vicente and his wife, Bonnie Piesse, both former members of a self-help organization called NXIVM, where Vicente had a senior role, in Venice, Calif., July 29, 2017. Vicente said that after hearing about a secret sorority in the group that was branding members, he confronted the groups leader, Keith Raniere. "I said 'whatever you are doing, you are heading for a blowup,'" Vicente said.

Ruth Fremson/New York Times5of10Sara Bronfman, left, NXIVM insider Pamela Cafritz, center, and Clara Bronfman, right, exit the Palace Theater in Albany, N.Y., following a presentation by the Dalai Lama May 6, 2009. (Patrick Dodson / Special to the Times Union)Patrick Dodson6of10Nancy Salzman, center, arrives at Brooklyn federal court, Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in New York. Salzman, a co-founder of NXIVM, an embattled upstate New York self-help organization, is expected to plead guilty in a case featuring sensational claims that some followers became branded sex slaves.Mary Altaffer/AP7of10

NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and Allison Mack appear in a group of videos titled "Keith Raniere Conversations," that were published on YouTube on April 9, 2017. (Keith Raniere Conversations/YouTube)

8of10NEW YORK, NY - MAY 7: Paul DerOhannesian, an attorney representing alleged sex cult leader Keith Raniere, arrives at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, May 7, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Opening arguments begin on Tuesday morning for the trial of Keith Raniere, the leader of the alleged sex cult NXIVM. Raniere, who could potentially face life in prison, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges.Drew Angerer/Getty9of10In this courtroom drawing, defendant Keith Raniere, center, is seated between his attorneys Paul DerOhannesian, left, and Marc Agnifilo during the first day of his sex trafficking trial, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. Raniere, the former leader of the self help group called NXIVM, has pleaded not guilty to the charges that he turned his followers into sex slaves. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)Elizabeth Williams10of10NEW YORK, NY - MAY 7: Mark Agnifilo, the attorney representing alleged sex cult leader Keith Raniere, speaks with reporters as he arrives at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, May 7, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Opening arguments begin on Tuesday morning for the trial of Keith Raniere, the leader of the alleged sex cult NXIVM. Raniere, who could potentially face life in prison, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges.Drew Angerer/Getty

NEW YORK — Files containing information on Albany County District Attorney David Soares, former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer were kept in a box in the basement of NXVIM president Nancy Salzman's home, an investigator testified Thursday at the federal trial of Keith Raniere.

The files bearing those prominent names — as well as dossiers on notorious political consultant Roger Stone, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Times Union Publisher George Hearst, among others — were discovered during a March 2018 raid on Salzman's home at 3 Oregon Trail in Halfmoon, according to State Police Investigator Charles Fontinelli, who worked on an FBI task force probing NXIVM.

Raniere, known within NXIVM as "Vanguard," is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and forced labor in a trial in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

The investigator's testimony served to introduce evidence of purported bank records NXIVM obtained through a Canadian investigative firm, Canaprobe, that was tasked with collecting data on individuals that federal prosecutors described as "enemies of NXIVM."

The list also included Stephen Herbits, a longtime confidant of the late Seagram's liquor tycoon Edgar Bronfman. The third witness to testify at Raniere's trial, Herbits said Bronfman's daughters, NXIVM insiders Clare and Sara Bronfman, pressured him in 2008 to ask Soares, Spitzer and the attorney general of New Jersey to bring criminal charges against several enemies of NXIVM — a request he refused.

"They were upset that the prosecutors were not prosecuting the people they were targeting," testified Herbits, an attorney who worked for the Seagram's organization for two decades and served as secretary general of the World Jewish Conference.

"They somehow thought I had something to say to an attorney general I've never met," he testified. "I thought the request was inappropriate — and, frankly, preposterous."

Herbits said the Bronfman sisters believed he had major political clout in Washington, D.C. He said that notion was "imaginary," but acknowledged he was on friendly terms with former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, who in 2008 was a U.S. senator and presidential candidate.

After he turned the Bronfman sisters down, Herbits said he suspected he himself would end up on their "enemies list." Based on the subsequent testimony of Fontinelli, that's exactly what happened.

Herbits testified that Clare Bronfman, NXIVM's operations director, sent him emails in late 2008 asking him to speak to George Hearst in an effort to win more favorable coverage of NXIVM in the Times Union ahead of a NXIVM-sponsored visit to Albany by the Dalai Lama.

"The Times Union has written many front page articles all supporting those who have damaged us with these criminal acts (Sara and I are to this day owed $2 million)," stated one of the emails. "They have failed to seek any of the facts. ... They have published several articles with fake evidence and have refused to meet with or interview the company's president."

Herbits said he never contacted Hearst.

Earlier Thursday, former NXIVM senior member Mark Vicente completed his five days of testimony by reluctantly admitting he once belonged to another spiritual organization — and believed its leader had been channeling the spirit of an ancient warrior.

Vicente admitted under cross-examination he had belonged to the Ramtha School of Enlightenment between 1994 and 2004. "It was a body of knowledge," Vicente said.

When Raniere's attorney, Marc Agnifilo, began to probe the subject of Ramtha, Vicente said he was not sure how much he could say — an apparent reference to litigation between himself and the group, which is based in the state of Washington.

Agnifilo grilled Vicente about his efforts to convince India Oxenberg — the daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg — to leave both NXIVM and a secret "master/slave" sex club within the organization in which women were being branded with Raniere's initials.

He asked Vicente about referring to India Oxenberg as a "monster" after visiting her home, and that Vicente believed she had been spying on him for Raniere.

Vicente repeatedly had a foggy memory, answering "I don't recall" to many questions.

Listen to "NXIVM on Trial," a new Times Union podcast devoted to developments in the federal prosecution of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. Download podcasts on Spotify, Apple, Pocket Casts, and Libsyn.

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Agnifilo asked Vicente if it is true he went to the Green Mountain Film Festival to confront India Oxenberg, who was there to promote a 2018 documentary about Tourette syndrome called, "My Tourette's" that was produced by NXIVM director of operations Clare Bronfman.

Vicente said he had been deeply concerned about India Oxenberg because "she was still a true believer" in NXIVM, and was in danger.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko objected to the line of questioning. He told the judge outside the presence of the jury that Agnifilo was trying to suggest to the jury that NXIVM and Raniere were involved in "good things" and could possibly help cure Tourette syndrome.

"This is a sideshow," Lesko said.

Agnifilo fired back: "They weren't in NXIVM because they were brainwashed. They were in NXIVM because they believed it did good things."

Agnifilo said Vicente, his wife Bonnie Piesse and a film crew stalked India Oxenberg at a Manhattan restaurant where she worked. The lawyer suggested Vicente was an "agent for the destruction of NXIVM."

Vicente countered that the crew was a block away, and that his wife wanted to speak to India Oxenberg out of concern.

The judge said he was not going to take the issue of curing Tourette syndrome lightly. He barred discussion of it unless the defense brought it up in its case.